


Purge Trooper 7567

by 6Space_Witch9



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assassination Attempt(s), Betrayal, Body Modification, Brainwashing, Force Ghost Ahsoka Tano, Gen, Heavy Angst, Interrogation, Kidnapping, Memory Loss, Mental Instability, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Psychological Torture, Purge Trooper Rex, Recovery, Spirit Guides, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death, Unethical Experimentation, Well a mostly happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:07:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29313063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/6Space_Witch9/pseuds/6Space_Witch9
Summary: “So, he’s still alive. Does he know?” Anak-Vader says as their blades clash against each other, the wind of Machalor whips around them and it claws at her skin like it is trying filet her alive. She already that the moment the temple sealed her inside with the Sith lord that she wouldn’t be leaving the planet alive.“A lot of people are alive and a lot of people know things. I have no idea who you’re talking about.” She growls stubbornly.“Oh but you do. I can sense it.” Vader wheezes through his breathing apparatus.Or: in a different time, Ahsoka tells Rex what really became of Anakin before she leaves for Machalor and Vader becomes aware of this during their duel. After killing her the Sith Lord decides that he simply can't leave the old clone alone now that he has joined the rebellion and knows who Vader truly is.It would be a waste of a prized asset if he just let him live freely.Besides, the Captain belongs to him.
Relationships: Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, CT-7567 | Rex & Sabine Wren, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Depa Billaba & Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger & CT-7567 | Rex, Ezra Bridger & Kanan Jarrus & Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios & Hera Syndulla & Sabine Wren, Kanan Jarrus & CT-7567 | Rex, Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla, Plo Koon & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 21
Kudos: 51
Collections: Captain Rex Stuff





	1. Stargazing

**Author's Note:**

> :^)  
> Warnings will come with each chapter!

“So, he’s still alive. Does he know?” Anak-Vader says as their blades clash against each other, the wind of Machalor whips around them and it claws at her skin like it is trying filet her alive. She already that the moment the temple sealed her inside with the Sith lord that she wouldn’t be leaving the planet alive.

Many Jedi have fallen before her by his blade, he was the most powerful Jedi in existence when he was Anakin Skywalker and he has not lost an ounce of the power after all these years, growing stronger and more ruthless as the Darkside has twisted him into something unimaginable.

She attacks him again, her white blades warbling pitifully in her hands as they fight against the power of his red Sith-saber. It's a roaring tidal force that screams for blood as their blades lock together once again as he forces her on the defensive even as she tries to use her agility to her advantage. She had gotten a good hit of the Sith lord earlier, part luck and skill had her ripping his helmet right open for all the world to see his face underneath. He seems determined not to let her have a second chance at slicing him open.

“A lot of people are alive and a lot of people know things. I have no idea who you’re talking about.” She growls stubbornly.

“Oh but you do. I can sense it.” Vader wheezes through his breathing apparatus.

She kicks him hard, the impact rattles up her leg as her foot impacts his armour but he stumbles back with another wheeze giving her the space she needs to flip away. Ezra and Kannan should be out of orbit with the Holocron, they will survive this day and the Holocron will be far from the Emperor, nothing else mattered. They're one step closer to dismantling the empire

Her limbs shake as she meets her fallen Master for another blow and winces as the locked blades force her knees to buckle under his overpowering strength.

“Liar, you were never good at keeping secrets from me. Where is he!” Vader snarls as he presses down harder.

She can feel him smashing against her mental shields, demanding entry into her mind, the pain is excruciating, and he’ll kill her before he even prises into her mind.

“He is dead and gone just like Anakin Skywalker, there’s no point in looking for someone who isn’t there.” She barks back as she twists out from under him and leaping away, adding a force push to throw him into the ground.

There’s no use, she’s never leaving here alive but if she can take her fallen Master with then maybe the galaxy has a fighting chance. Without Darth Vader, the galaxy has a much brighter future. The thought almost makes her cry as she remembers how Anakin Skywalker had been that beacon of hope in a past life now lost to time and despair.

She knows what she needs to do.

“If he’s dead then why have I read reports of an old clone with blue painted armour running around with rebels?” Vader asks as he levers himself off the ground, the howling wind throws his cape back over his shoulder.

“Why do you think I have anything to do with the rebellion?” She asks, stalling for time, she knows he’s already looked into her mind, he already knows everything there is to her.

“Why lie to me Ahsoka?” Vader asks and he sounds so much like Anakin it’s physically painful, but she knows that her Master died when Vader was born. Anakin Skywalker is as she thought him to be, dead and gone along with thousands of other Jedi.

“Because you will never get to him, this ends now.” She says as she ignites her blades into the floor of the alter and it crumbles away under the heat of her sabers.

Vader stumbles as the temple rocks and rumbles and she’s pretty sure he would be scowling deeply if he even could.

“You do disappoint me Ahsoka. This may be the end, but only for you.” Vader says and she looks up for a split second to see the Sith lord bringing his blade down onto her head, but before he can make contact the floor crumbles beneath them and she can distantly hears his cry of anger, it vaguely sounds like her name, but he is drowned out by the rumblling of the collapsing temple.

She does not fear for her life as she falls, she is so tired and she knows the remaining Jedi in the galaxy will sleep better knowing that she took Darth Vader with her in death.

Rex would be safe without a Sith lord hunting him, the rebels would take care of him. She hopes he doesn’t blame himself for her choices. He deserved to live a peaceful life.

* * *

“Rex…” He hears the kid whimper as he hangs anxiously at the hangar bay door. The kid should be in bed resting but he’s never heard of a Jedi staying down for long.

He came out here to be alone, the others have treated him like a lonely planet as they orbit around him nervously. He appreciates their concern for him, he really does. The rebels have heart, having heart under the Empire meant more to their characters than anything else. But…

They aren’t his brothers, and they aren’t Ahsoka, there’s no replacing those cornerstone people in his life now that they're gone for good. She knew that she was walking to her death when she went to Machalor. He knew that too before she had signed off on their last communication, knowing she was going to die didn’t make knowing she was dead any less painful.

She is another piece of himself that has been lost to the Empire. All he can hope is that the kid behind him looking near tearful makes it out of this war. He hopes that Ezra can live the life he and his brother had fought for all those years ago, or at least the life they thought they were fighting for.

“Hey kid, what are you doing up? I thought Hera told you to stay in bed. You had quite a fight on Machalor from what we were told.” Rex says softly as he places his flask down next to his thigh and turns to face a battered-looking Ezra.

“I…I couldn’t sleep, I was wondering if I could sit out here with you?” Ezra asks meekly.

“Sure thing kid. The stars are a free show…. You know, during the clone wars we would go on relief missions between campaigns to revisit struggling systems and when I had time I would come out every night with Ahsoka and my brothers and we would just admire the stars.” Rex tells him, there’s a shadow of a smile on his face when he hears the story.

“Some people believe that after you die your soul becomes a star, that the stars watch over the ones they left behind.” Rex says casually as he picks his flask back up, Ezra plunks himself down next to him, kicking his feet in the open air they dangle above.

“Do you believe that?” He asks as he wrings his hands nervously, there are shallow cuts over his knuckles. He knows one especially cruel inquisitor had delighted in taunting him with a spinning blade over his fingers as he hung from a ledge, those three may be dead but plenty of other threats still remain.

Speaking of threats...

He never thought he would hear of Maul again after he had left them for dead during Order 66 yet, here he is. Rex doubts that the former Sith has a turned a new leaf in the past 15 years, he has a better chance of regrowing his legs. The way he attacked Kannan is pretty telling that he still revels in the Darkside, and to make matters he has a sinking feeling that the Zabrak has his eyes on Ezra for more nefarious future schemes.

“It’s a nice thought, to believe that maybe I’ll join them one day, and that they’re watching over me until then. I saw a lot of my brothers die during the war and it’s nice to think that they’re waiting for me.” Rex admits, he’s never really put much faith into folklore he’s heard when they bounced around the galaxy going from one battlefield to another.

But, late at night when he thinks about the men that had died, it gave him comfort to think that they were together as stars in the galaxy, shining down on the brothers that lived through each battle.

“I’m sorry Rex.” The boy sniffles which almost makes him choke on the mouthful of whisky he had sipped.

“Whatever for kid? You’ve done nothing wrong.” Rex asks, now more bewildered than before as Ezra starts sobbing.

“If I had been strong enough or smart enough Ahsoka would still be alive and Kannan wouldn’t be hurt. I couldn’t even protect myself against Vader and I trusted Maul, he’s a Sith lord! I believed that he was different, but he wasn’t and now Kannan may never see again and Ahsoka is dead….” The kid bursts into heaving sobs and he’s painfully familiar to a shiny who just lost their entire squad.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay…Ezra we can’t avoid making bad calls or not being strong enough, Ahsoka and Kannan knew that sacrifice would come with going to Machalor, there are no certain outcomes in war, especially this one. All you can do is learn to better from your mistakes and honour the people and things you’ve lost. It won’t be easy, it never is, but you’ll always have people looking out for you.” Rex says and he pulls the young man into a half hug.

He’s never been tactile with people outside of his brothers and Ahsoka but something urgers him to bring the boy in close, that he needs the comfort now. With not even a moment of hesitation, Ezra wraps his arms around his chest and crushes them together in a desperately tight hug.

The kid will cry himself out soon, until then he’s going to be here for him until he’s ready to pick himself back up again.

For Ahsoka’s sake he has to let her go, he’ll never stop mourning her, but he cannot hold onto her death, it’s not what she would’ve wanted.

If he cannot live on then no one would remember her, she would fade from existence like all the Jedi before her. He wouldn’t allow that to happen, he would pass on her memory until his dying breath.

* * *

“Admiral Thrawn.” Vader booms over the holo call and he can feel his muscles stiffen further, straightening is posture to the point where if someone blew air at him his spine would probably snap in half.

If people found him unnerving, they find Vader terrifying, which he supposes, is the entire point. They couldn’t run an Empire if they didn’t strike fear into the hearts of their would-be enemies, especially with the rebellion gaining momentum each day.

“Lord Vader, what do I owe the pleasure?” He asks, Vader isn’t one to call for small talk, he needs something done and trusts Thrawn enough to do it.

“The reports have stated that you and your agents have come across a certain rebel cell that hosts a Jedi and his apprentice, is that true?” Vader asks, his rebreathing whirring softly with each word.

“That is correct my lord, Ghost crew.” Thrawn replies.

“There is a particular individual associated with them, a clone from the clone wars, number and name CT- 7567 Captain Rex, he served as a decorated clone captain. I want him brought to me, alive. He will have useful information that will aid in crushing this rebellion once and for all.” Vader commands.

If Thrawn isn’t mistaken, he hears a certain possessive note under Vader’s words. Trust is not the word he would use when discussing his views towards the armoured man but he respects Vader's judgment. He serves the Empire well, but he has a feeling that this may be slightly more personal for the Sith than a usual mission.

But it is no business of his, if he captures the clone he will have an opportunity of his own to examine a relic of the past, to match a helmet to a face of a deviant, the clones that defected are far and few between but highly fascinating. In fact, clones, in general, are rare to come across in the current Empire, it made sense, they weren’t made to last. Agent Kallus had wasted the opportunity to capture the clone when he had first hunted the him on Seelos, they had lost an even bigger opportunity when another Commander didn’t understand the gravity of the clone’s identity.

“It will be done, my lord. I will have him in my custody immediately.” Thrawn replies.

“See to it that you keep him alive until I can interrogate him personally.” Vader says before ending the call, the threat of violence for failure heavy in his voice.

By the sounds of it, the punishment for failure would be severe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He hadn’t been a soldier after the Order 66, but yet still fought, he had torn into the Empire in every far corner of the galaxy, his anger had spurned him on, he doesn’t remember much of the first few years, it’s all just a blood-soaked fever dream.

He wakes up on the second day and Ahsoka is still dead, only this time he has a hangover from downing his flask on an empty stomach. He’s not the young man he used to be even if he’s technically only...wait how old is he again? Oh right, he doesn’t think people who are normally only 28 usually feel this old, but the Kaminoans had made good on their promise. They made clones in bulk for high quality and quantity but knowingly made them with a mindset that they aren’t supposed to last long. They bred him to know how to kill someone in 39 different ways but they didn’t bother to stop him from greying before he even reached 20.

He would personally reap his vengeance on Nala Se and the cloners if they weren’t already dead. The attack on Kamino a while back made sure of that. In fact, he hasn’t heard a single utterance of the cloners since the fall of the Republic, which tells him that Sidious most likely left them for dead the moment they weren’t useful to him. As it stands not a single clone is being produced anymore, they haven’t been in years, he’s getting old and he’s pretty sure any brainwashed clone that managed to survive clone order 66 to be integrated into the Empire were either dead or had been cruelly decommissioned because they could no longer keep up.

He really is a last of his kind, Wolffe and Gregor are still around, he knows this. Off on their own missions for the rebellion, he’s pretty sure half of it is just Wolffe and Gregor babysitting each other to ensure that they don’t permanently fall off the deep end and end up fist-fighting every Imperial Grand Moff personally.

He'll call them, he will, just not now, he’s not even sure what to say, so he just won’t call them now. They’re probably busy anyways, the last message he got from Gregor was the fact that he and Wolffe were being sent on a scouting mission, something about uncovering old Republic storehouses that could multifunction for their little rebellion.

That had been several days ago, even before Ahsoka had left for Malachor.

He tries to not let the silence bother him, they're systems apart, and radio silence is a reality of war, and they are wanted by the Empire as rogue clones, it's not like they can go around to any other holo-call booth and send out an unencrypted message. A bounty hunter could get a good lump sum if they dumped any of them at Vader’s feet, they were free from mind control, but never from the Empire, it's why they chose Seelios of all places to camp out.

Several factors could lead them to not contacting him, not hearing anything after a few days didn’t always mean they were dead or captured or too injured to message him back.

But still, it just…makes him uneasy, or maybe he’s just sick from drinking too much.

It’s hard to tell. There’s a lot of things he can’t tell, is it easier to breathe around the weight of grief that sat so heavily on his chest the days before? Or is he just too numb to tell? Grief, in a way, had been the catalyst in his and Ahsoka’s more complicated relationship. They had parted for their own safety, in a way he doesn’t think she could bear to look at him after the first year when Jedi were still plentiful enough to hunt and kill, while his brother still wore the royal blue paint on their armour when they gunned down Jedi following closely behind Vader.

They went their separate ways for the better, and he knew that this time would be the last time they would ever really be Captain and Commander ever again, on the shitty moon they crash-landed on. There would be no grand homecoming for either of them again, it was too dangerous to stay together and he knows he had been too angry for her to stick around, too much of a reminder of who she had lost to the dark cloying emotion. As much as it hurt to see her go, she had the potential to make a difference and he would only slow her down with his need for vengeance and hatred and desperate need to find any of his surviving brothers. But as the years went by, somehow their work often lined up, as she had gotten older, she grew into the beacon of hope that Anakin had been, and she knew what it took to build the groundwork for a rebellion and it often brought her to his nitty-gritty underworld.

There had been a saying passed around the GAR and when he remembers it, he snorts at how fitting it is now when it had felt so ridiculous back they had fighting their orchestrated war.

 _Either you die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain_ , it would’ve been better if Anakin Skywalker had died, in a way he did after he became whatever he is now, Anakin Skywalker had promised to never hurt Ahsoka and now she was dead. Vader and the Emperor are the blackened heart of the Galactic Empire and their lackies pull that poison outwards to every corner of the galaxy.

Anakin Skywalker had killed them all, he’s not going to pretend that Vader isn’t Skywalker, the man he had devoted his life to, who had his loyalty day in and out through every single hardship had given them up, and for what? He and Skywalker are the only ones left of Torrent and even then he’s more of a ghost than a person, he would have stayed a ghost had the rebels not found them on their desolate little planet. Maybe if he had stayed a ghost he wouldn’t have ever felt the very real pain of losing Ahsoka, looks like Cody had been right again, it’s unbearable being the one who survives, to be the one who has to let people go, is it so much for him to ask for the same, to just fade into a distant memory?

Did he not fight the good fight, did he not serve his time? But he’s still here, fighting once again because war is all he has ever known, fighting and carnage and the feeling of his heat warmed blasters under his palms.

He hadn’t been a soldier after the Order 66, but yet still fought, he had torn into the Empire in every far corner of the galaxy, his anger had spurned him on, he doesn’t remember much of the first few years, it’s all just a blood-soaked fever dream.

No Jedis were around to be the voice of reason as he didn’t discriminate against who he killed.

But what he does remember is how his carnage had caught up to him, how the Empire had followed his path of destruction, set on killing him for good. He’s still surprised that hadn’t tried to recondition him on the few occasions that he had been caught, but in a way, he knows why they didn’t and still don't. Why bother with the old, stubborn soldier that you have to recondition every so often when hoards of young, abled-bodied men and women have been brainwashed to never question their undying loyalty.

He was a problem they simply needed to be rid of.

They almost did, but Cody always did say he’s been blessed with the luck of the Force, any other man or woman would’ve probably been dead ten times over with how many close calls he managed to survive. And whether reluctantly or not the Force had had mercy on him again, or it wasn’t merciful enough to allow him the sweet release of death, he’s still currently undecided about what fate would even be better.

But he lived to see another day because Ahsoka had shown up, he’s still surprised the Inquisitor hadn’t killed him before she had crashed into the storehouse, they had found themselves in, the 4th sister hadn’t even had a chance to pose a challenge before Ahsoka had cut her down in three strokes, the Inquisitors were never meant to be a match to the Togruta.

He likes to think all the holes he put in the Sith acolyte also helped bring her down, but he didn’t get a chance to ask as he subsequently passed out with her concerned face hovering over him.

When he had reawakened at some medical facility on Alderaan with Ahsoka nowhere to be found, he had been ready to shrug his shoulders and leave. Again, as the beacon of hope, Ahsoka coming and going but never staying for long had been a reality for years, but the rattle of binders pinning him to the med-cot told him that he was no friend where she had brought him, and to say that he had been furious had been an understatement. She didn’t trust him, which was definitely a punch to the gut, but that moment had been the catalyst of change in their relationship, the need to prove to her that he hadn’t turned into just another monster had lit a fire within him that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

He's not going to say their partnership was ever a romantic one, more of a carnal companionship than anything else, but they almost always worked together on missions for the Rebellion after he had been released from his medical prison by a very reluctant Bail Organa. They were two people who understood each other, and for better or for worse she had dragged him out of the dark to help the galaxy, but at the end of the line, he could not be there for her.

All he can do now is push forwards, to complete the goal she left behind.

* * *

“Ezra…I can feel your mental pacing from here, you can tell me what’s bothering you.” Kanan tells him, and he winces as he tries to stop his leg from bouncing as he fiddles with his newly modified lightsaber.

It feels different in his hand, heavier, stronger, something he can use to be stronger so he can save people who need saving.

He never wants to be the one who is always in need of saving, never, Ahsoka had to save him from Vader, and now she’s gone, he had been stupid enough to trust Maul and now Kanan will never see again. He had been nothing to his enemies, how can he protect anyone if he can’t even save himself?

The questions burn a hole in his chest and it’s hard to breathe through the pain of his failure when he’s so angry, at himself, at Maul, at Vader.

“I just…I brought Maul to Machalor thinking I had done the right thing, I went to Machalor thinking I was strong enough to fight the Inquisitors, I know they’re our enemies and cause nothing but destruction, but when Maul told me to kill the sister…I..” He trails off, at a loss of what to say.

“…You couldn’t, you felt her fear, you saw her as a person even as your enemy. I understand Ezra, trust me when I say I do, war makes everything messy and hard to understand when you’re forced to make decisions you don’t want to. Our job as Jedi is to help others who suffer under the Empire, so that they can survive long enough to grow strong enough that they don’t need our help anymore more, but survival has never been simple or easy, but I know you’ll make the right choices.” Kanan says from his bed, his eyes are still wrapped in thick bandages and he looks skinny and sounds tired, but he still shines bright in their bond.

He knows Kannan is right, he’ll probably have to make choices he may end up hating, but he has to be strong. He has to be the one to watch Kanan’s back as he recovers, he knows Kanan will grow stronger with time but he won’t ever be the same, he and Kanan will grow together so that they can protect Ghost Crew and help people who are suffering like Lothal is.

He's seen what the Empire does to people and he can’t just sit by and feel angry at himself when life gets harder.

“I know, I must release my emotions into the Force so that they don’t cloud my judgement, I can’t have them controlling my actions.” Ezra replies and Kanan nods with a smile, he knows saying it is a lot easier than doing it, but the older man’s trust in him is a steadying presence.

But…that hasn’t been the only thing that’s been invading his mind, something dark and sinister is on the horizon, too far to see what it is clearly but it feels evil, the kind that makes his blood freeze in his veins and drops his heart in his stomach, it’s not Vader, it’s not an Inquisitor, it’s something worse, which is hard to imagine, but whatever it is, it’s coming from them.

“You feel it too? The presence, how cold it feels, the hunger and pain that it revels in?” Kanan asks softly.

“Yes...” He replies, “What is it?” He asks nervously, swallowing heavily as Kanan remains silent for several moments.

“I don’t know…” He says finally, which is almost worse than no answer at all.

**Author's Note:**

> First time doing something rebel related, tell me what you think!


End file.
